L.A. Confidential (1997)

Welcome to Los-Angeles with its caressing sun, long beaches and... its flourishing organized crime! L.A. Confidential, a screen adaptation of James Ellroy's bestseller of the same name, invites you in the exciting journey to L.A. of the '50s with its stunning luxury and shocking immorality. Curtis Hanson aimed at reviving the film noir style, which was popular in Hollywood crime movies of the '40s and '50s. The underlying neo-noir esthetics made L.A. Confidential one of the most stylish and conceptual drama movies of its time.

The action takes place in Los-Angeles in the 50s – the city of brilliant film stars and expensive prostitutes, of glamour and crime, of sophisticated criminals and cops without fear and reproach.

The city is shocked by a cruel slaughter in the Nite Owl café (which is based on a real event of 1951 called the Bloody Christmas). The police suspects Mickey Cohen, the head of an influential criminal group.

The plot revolves around three detectives involved into an intriguing mess of sex, drugs, crime and corruption. Different fates, different methods and different personalities set the LAPD officers at loggerheads and make the plot sharp and dramatic.

Officer Bud White (Russell Crowe) is a hot-tempered husky guy, but this proves only the tip of the iceberg. Inside Bud is a kindly soul and the most sincere struggler for justice, devoted to his ideals. Detective Lieutenant Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) is a goody-goody and a squealer with brilliant career prospects, mainly due to his father's reputation. As for Detective Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey), he is probably the most extravagant personage of the trio. A dandy and a poseur, making money on the side as an advisor for a popular detective TV show and a notorious tabloid, he also gets involved in the tangle of events. For Spacey this was not the first experience of starring in a neo-noir movie (The Usual Suspects, 1995).

The three cops investigate the massacre case separately and get into a cobweb of crimes, all pointing at the fact that the glorious LAPD is rotting from the inside. In the process of investigation White trails an expensive call-girl service and has a love affair with charming Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger), whose appearance was exposed to plastic surgery to remind the then film star Veronica Lake. She is also involved in the case. The plot is very complicated and tangled, the fates of the heroes are entwining in the most incredible way. L.A. Confidential will keep you in suspense up to the end. With such an intriguing plot one will certainly anticipate a striking showdown, and you will not be disappointed by it.

This movie opened the doors to the big screen for Russell Crowe, a little-known actor from New Zealand, who later faced his sidereal hour in Gladiator, The Insider and A Beautiful Mind. It's interesting to note that a few years after L.A. Confidential both Crowe and Spacey got the Film Academy Awards for Best Actor, Spacey in 1999 for American Beauty, and Crowe in 2000 for Gladiator.

The movie was received with a great favor by critics. It was nominated for 9 Oscars and only the strongest competitor Titanic didn't let L.A. Confidential collect them all. However, Kim Basinger was awarded as the Best Actress in a Supporting Role, while Hanson and Helgeland got the golden statuette for Best Screenplay - Adapted.